


and baby makes three

by usoverlooked



Series: sit down and spill your heart [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 18:22:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4715972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usoverlooked/pseuds/usoverlooked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You found a baby?”<br/>“Only a little one.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	and baby makes three

**Author's Note:**

> I use a couple words that are in Trigedasleng (yongon=child & branwoda=fool) because I ended up in a google loop.

“You found a baby?” Raven asks, as if somehow, if Octavia says no, the baby in her arms will disappear. The baby can possibly read minds, Raven decides, because it starts to cry at her question.

“Only a little one.”

“Oh good, only a little baby,” Raven says. Octavia makes a face, like Raven’s the one wrong. The baby stops crying and reaches up to touch Octavia’s nose. Then, it throws up on Octavia’s neck.

“Imagine how much worse that would’ve been if it was a big baby,” Raven says The glare she gets is totally worth it.

 

It’s been two years since anyone’s seen Clarke and nearly as long since the first hundred – the Settlers, as Bellamy has titled them – split from the rest. Some of the rest came with, mostly parents from stations other than Alpha, and a few people stayed behind, Jasper for one. In that time though, they’ve settled into a good rhythm of things, especially Octavia and Raven. There’s been losses, but the majority of Grounders respect their little clan and things are good. Raven usually doesn’t get to go to check the traps with her knee, but Bellamy has a cold and Miller and his crew are off trading with Lincoln and Luna. And Octavia asked. When Octavia asks, Raven usually ends up saying yes. She tries not to analyze that.

Most trips to check on the traps are uneventful. There was one time where Monty and Octavia came back with a dog (now named Cerberus, the only way anyone could think of to get Bellamy to let them keep it) but otherwise all anyone comes back with is dead animals. So, of course, the one time Raven goes, they find a baby.

 

“I think she likes me more,” Octavia comments. Raven squints at her, but the younger girl just shrugs a shoulder. “Vomit might be a baby’s way of showing love. You can’t disprove it.”

“Lucky you,” Raven answers. Octavia preens at that, as if being barfed on by a baby actually is some kind of accomplishment.

Once, Octavia told her about finding a field of glowing butterflies. Sometimes, like now, Raven can just about see it. Octavia glows, so of course butterflies would do the same around her.

“Do you think anyone’s had kids back at the Ark?”

“Probably,” Raven admits. She doesn’t think about the Ark much. The only ties she really had to it were Wick and Abby. Neither of them matter much to her anymore. She thinks Abby only ever used her, and she knows Wick only ever idolized her. Their new civilization at the Dropship matters far more to her.

“Still, first baby of the Dropship,” Octavia pokes a finger at the baby’s tummy. It gurgles and Raven holds it out. Even if barf is a sign of affection, she’d rather do without it.

“We’re not keeping her. Somebody will stop us,” Raven says. Octavia turns, still walking, and quirks an eyebrow. It’s a look that she wears well and often. Raven shouldn’t like it as much as she does, she thinks.

“Name her Athena and two weeks of laundry duty says Bell builds her a crib within the month,” Octavia crosses her arms at this, a dare.

“Whatever,” Raven says, at least partially because she’s probably right. Bellamy likes kids anyways. The few times they’ve visited Grounder villages for festivals, he’s usually ended up with a group of Grounder brats trailing after him like ducklings.

“Besides, if we don’t keep her, who will?” Octavia asks.

Raven looks down at the baby at that point. Her skin is dark, her hair all curls, and she has one tooth jutting out of her bottom gum. She’s also grinning up at Raven and patting her chubby baby hand against the strap on her pack. It’s been half an hour and Raven can’t imagine being able to justify abandoning the kid. She’s too cute, not to mention helpless.

“I guess if we can build a town, we could raise a kid,” Raven admits. She bounces the baby in her arms and the baby laughs. Octavia reaches over, grabs the kid’s hand. The baby tightens a grip around Octavia’s finger, earning a smile from both girls.

“We won’t abandon you, _yongon_ ,” Octavia says. The baby grins up at her, her one tooth poking out proudly. Raven knows it doesn’t mean much to the baby, but she knows that being abandoned is a feeling that Octavia is nearly as familiar with as Raven is.

 

After Mount Weather, after they left the Ark, Indra had showed up just before winter. Raven had found Octavia with a bottle of Monty’s moonshine and newly shorn hair.

“She told me to take the braids out. Said I should stop playing at being one of them,” Octavia had said. Her hair barely reached her ears, pieces of it poking up atop her head. Raven had pulled the moonshine and taken a swig of it.

“Fuck her,” Raven had declared, simple as that.

The two of them never talked about that, but ever since then, they’d been something of a unit. Raven was the brains, the one with plans, while Octavia did the legwork for it. Most of the traps in the woods were thanks to them. Most of the respect they got from the Grounders was in part to them. Despite that, Raven still sees the way Octavia stands up too straight, shoulders drawn tight, when Indra’s clan comes to trade. Sometimes, she thinks it would be worth it to not have Octavia around to make traps, to have her be with Indra’s clan, if only because she wouldn’t look so lost after they left. Sometimes, mostly late at night when they’re the only two up and Octavia gets soft and leans against Raven while she draws up plans, those are the times she’s more selfish in what she wants.

 

“There’s no good nickname from Athena,” Raven observes as they reach the gates. Octavia looks at her and Raven shrugs. “Nicknames matter.”

“What would you suggest then?”

“I’unno. Something nickname-able,” Raven looks down at the little girl. “Any other nerd names you’ve got?”

“Can’t believe you’d say that about our daughter’s name,” Octavia says as she knocks on the gate. Raven blinks at her back, vaguely aware that the baby is gurgling. The gate opens and Octavia looks over her shoulder at her. “What, like any of these other idiots could raise her?”

 

It turns out that raising a baby with Octavia is a lot like working on anything else with Octavia – easy, but frustrating. Octavia’s good with the baby; good at humming or singing while she works on things, good at playing with her, good at changing her. Raven takes care of the rest, the logistics; she figures out where the baby can sleep, where the baby should be at developmentally, how to build a carrier for either of them so they can carry the baby and still work on things around the village. They both figure out that everyone else is willing to babysit, save Monty, who looks honestly terrified of the baby. By the time the baby has been there two weeks, they’ve worked out nearly everything except a name.

“Are you not naming her because you think someone’s going to pick her up?” Bellamy asks. He’s helping Octavia build a crib while Raven plays with the baby on the lower bunk in the little room she shares with Octavia.

“No way, you’re attached, this kid is with us for hell or high water,” Octavia answers. She’s got sawdust on her brow. Raven leans over, wipes it off. The back of Octavia’s neck is all red, which Raven credits to exertion. She’s about to offer (again) to jump in and help, but she notices Octavia’s face. Octavia’s blushing and she looks away when she notices Raven looking at her. Raven leans back, unsettled.

“Knowing our luck, it’ll probably be both,” Raven comments. She tickles the baby’s stomach, getting her to giggle. It’s a nice distraction to the fact that she’s pretty sure Octavia was staring at her lips.

“So you don’t have any ideas?” Bellamy asks.

“Nothing for a dead person, nothing that can’t be a nickname, nothing that we don’t both like,” Raven says. Octavia joins in, reciting the last two with her. Bellamy nods.

“Unofficially, I’m probably going to veto anything you say,” Raven says, just for the look on Bellamy’s face. It pays off because he glares, and then pays off double when Octavia laughs. She reaches over, shoves her brother’s shoulder.

“You need something to call her.”

“Yeah, when people call her the baby, it’s been really confusing which of the many babies here they mean,” Octavia points out, tone serious. Raven grins and Bellamy rolls his eyes.

“You two teaming up is honestly one of the worst things to happen at this damn camp,” he says. He doesn’t mean it at all. Raven is fairly sure they’re his best friends, aside from Miller.

“You love us and you wish you had a better half like Octavia does,” Raven says. She realizes how it sounds belatedly, but neither Blake is fazed. Octavia just yelps out disapproval while Bellamy grins.

“Besides, I thought the worst thing to happen here was Monty burning that plant that he thought would clear sinuses and actually just made us all trip out for the rest of the day.”

“Or the time Monroe started dating that Azgeda warrior.”

“Or when Monty tried to speak trigedasleng and called Luna a _branwoda_.”

“Or-“

“ _Alright_ ,” Bellamy holds out his hands. Raven has to bite back a laugh and she’s happy when Octavia gives her a look that means she’s in the same boat. Bellamy’s smiling too, which is nice. Sometimes Raven worries that he’s not happy. She knows Octavia worries about it a lot.

Bellamy reaches over and plays with the baby’s foot. “Your moms are obviously the _third_ worst thing to happen to this camp.”

Octavia throws the pillow for the crib at him.

 

The thing about raising a baby with Octavia is that Raven had been really good at denying how she felt until now, even to herself. She knows that Octavia’s only ever dated guys – Lincoln, the guy who died before she came down to earth, Adama from Sonchageda – so she’s pushed it back. Never thinking about it worked mostly. But the thing is –

The thing is, now she lives with Octavia. She’s fallen asleep on Octavia’s cot because the baby wouldn’t stop crying, and she’s woken up with Octavia’s arm around her waist. She’s listened to Octavia sing songs to put the baby asleep, seen the tired but proud smile when it works. It hurts, all of it, because she’s so close to something real that it hurts. Sometimes, when she’s especially tired, she considers it. Just reaching over while Octavia feeds the baby mashed vegetables and kissing her. But she thinks about losing all this – Octavia, the baby, probably Bellamy too – and she doesn’t. Raven’s been hurt enough. She knows that it really isn’t worth it.

So, she lets it hurt. Figures a little pain and having something is better than a lot of pain and having nothing. Sometimes she even tries to convince herself it’s enough. It never works.

 

“We really do need to name her,” Octavia says, voice heavy with sleep. She’s curled in her bed, watching the baby sleep in the crib. Raven’s still up, drawing plans for a new trap on her blackboard. Octavia throws a pillow at her, but it lands on the floor before it reaches her. Raven grins at her and Octavia sighs. “Would you just come to bed?”

Raven knows she doesn’t mean it that way, but for a moment she lets herself believe.

“Give me two minutes,” Raven says. Octavia groans.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” this comes out as a singsong. Raven swallows, pointedly does not look up.

“Tease,” she says finally, keeping her tone light. She keeps working. After a few moments, she hears Octavia roll over. When she does go to bed, she moves to the top bunk. She’s only human.

 

Later that week, Octavia yells at her across the village to move her cute ass. The next day, Bellamy gives a speech to the group about something. It’s probably an important lecture because Bellamy’s using hand gestures, but Octavia curls into Raven’s side, even throwing her legs over Raven’s lap. Whatever Bellamy says is totally lost on Raven, and Octavia who falls asleep, but she doesn’t really care.

 

“You haven’t suggested very many names,” Octavia says. She’s helping build a new building, to be used as a storage room. Raven’s keeping an eye on her and Monroe and Miller as they all work. Her leg gets worse the closer they get to winter and right now it’s aching. Luckily, the baby offers something of an excuse. Raven works on whittling some blocks for her to play with while the baby eats fruit.

“If I have any good ones, I’ll let you know,” she says.

“At this point, the kid is just going to answer to anything,” Miller points out. Octavia smacks his arm, but he shrugs. “Just saying. Even the dog had a name within a day.”

“The dog also answers to mutt and _branwoda_ ,” Monroe points out. Miller holds up his hands in defeat at that point.

“We’ll figure out one that’s right. It’ll just happen,” Octavia says, sounding sure of it. She smiles. “When things are meant to happen, they’ll happen.”

“Poetic.”

“Miller, shut the hell up, we all know you wrote Monty a song last month,” Raven says. Miller sighs, probably regretting whatever he did to get stuck working with them. Octavia grins and Raven leans over to play with the baby because she thinks her smile might say too much.

 

Two days later, it’s the second month anniversary of bringing the baby home. Bellamy throws them a party, which is fun. With winter coming, the group needs parties for any reason to keep moral up. Winters are always hard.

Octavia plops a bandana folded to look like a crown onto Raven’s head before settling next to her. The baby is with Bellamy, getting more attention than she needs.

“Alpha,” Raven says. Octavia blinks at her and Raven nods toward the baby. “It’s Greek, hails back to the Ark, and I’m tired of her not having a name.”

“I hate it,” Octavia says. Raven stares at her. Then she laughs.

“My alternate was Aurora but you don’t want her named after someone dead.”

“You, that was more so we didn’t have to pick between everyone. If you like it,” Octavia looks like she’s trying not to be too hopeful. Raven nods.

“Rory, Rora, tons of nicknames from Aurora. I like it,” Raven says. Octavia practically tackles her in a hug.

“This is why I love you,” she says into Raven’s shoulder. She’s said it before – Octavia doesn’t say it often, not like Monty does, but she says it occasionally. It still makes Raven’s heart jump. Octavia pulls back. Her face is too serious. “I mean it.”

“I’ll bet you say that to all the girls you raise a baby with,” Raven says, because making a joke is easy. Octavia tries at a smile, fails. She leans back and her shoulders do that too straight thing.

“Wait,” Raven touches her arm. Octavia clenches her jaw. “Wait, wait, O, are you really – I mean, are you flirting with me?”

Octavia turns, her gaze hard. “I’ve been flirting with you since before we found the baby.”

Raven stares. Then, she laughs, one chuckle that escapes her. Octavia juts her chin, stands. She’s hurt, of course she’s hurt. Raven forgets sometimes, that Octavia’s lost people too. That she’s been picked last for most of her life. Octavia’s halfway across the part before Raven stands.

“Octavia Blake,” she bellows. Octavia doesn’t turn around, but she stops. “My knee is shitty so I can’t chase you down, but if I could, I would. I’m in love with you. I want to raise a ton of babies with you, not platonically.”

Someone whoops, probably Harper. All Raven can see is the smile on Octavia’s face as she finally turns. She nearly knocks Raven over when she slams into her.

As far as first kisses go, Raven’s pretty sure there’s never been one better.

 

“Named a baby and got the girl, all in one day,” Octavia says, later. She props her head up on Raven’s collarbone. “This might be our most productive day yet.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Talk to me @masonjo on tumblr yall.


End file.
